Hanging from trees, shrubs, gazebos and tents, waterproof lanterns known as “barlooons” give an alternative outdoor lighting option for your garden, patio or outdoor space. The barlooons are manufactured by Barlooon Germany using material that has been specially adapted to the climatic conditions in Europe. I chat to Hanna Barten, MD of Barlooon Germany to find out more about these colourful lights. Hi Hanna!
Hello, I am Hanna Barten, in my late thirties, managing director of Barlooon Germany GmbH and mother of two charming and lively girls.
Your company designs and makes weatherproof lanterns “barlooons”. What inspired the company to concentrate on this type of outdoor lighting?
I love lanterns! And I wanted them for our garden all year round. But the lanterns that existed before didn’t last long, because they were made of paper. And you couldn’t light them up either. So I thought to myself: There must be another way! The idea was born.
By the way: The name Barlooon is written with 3xO, because we have our lampions in three different sizes, namely with 30 cm / 50 cm and 70 cm diameter. And the 3xO stand for our 3 sizes.
It is not unusual for Barlooon to be written with 2xO only, but always with the thought behind it, it will actually always be spelled correctly in the future.
What is the material used to make the barlooons? Are they suitable for leaving outside throughout the year?
The material we use for our lampions is a very robust PVC material, which is also used for beach chairs and awnings. It is therefore designed for year-round outdoor use and is wonderfully suitable for our products.
And: Yes! Of course our lampions can be outside all year round. In rain, snow or storms…..
However, we recommend to clean the lampions if necessary, which is also possible without any problems.
There are some lovely colours to choose from including white, cream, yellow, orange, red, green, black – I rather like the dazzling orange, but which colour seems to be the most popular amongst your customers? Do you have a favourite colour?
In spring most customers choose our lampions in white, yellow and orange. In summer more for white.
Towards autumn, the orange and yellow ones are the most popular and the red lampion is mainly bought in the pre-Christmas period.
It is always very interesting to see how the year passes by in colours 🙂
Our special colours like green and black are really very rarely asked for. But we are happy if we can also help customers with special wishes.
Furthermore, our customers also have the possibility to create their own personal Barlooon; with our “YOU-Edition”.
I personally like our white lanterns best. They are colour neutral and therefore blend in well in the garden all year round – no matter what is flowering or not.
Are there any new additions/colours to your range of lights in the pipeline for 2020?
At the moment there are no new colours planned. We are currently working on adding a stand for the ground spikes to our accessories so that the ground spike can be used where there are no beds. For example for roof terraces or terraces as such.
In addition, we are developing a very large lantern, which has a diameter of over one meter. We affectionately call it our “Megalooon”.
Are there any rules or recommendations about where to display these lights?
Our Barlooons can actually be used everywhere. Whether it is in a tree or positioned totally flexible with our earth spike and solar module.
The solar module is recommended for use where it can also be charged by the sun.
With the wired lighting solution, our lanterns have more power and shine correspondingly reliably, even in the dark season.
As you are based in Germany, are your products available to customers abroad?
The work on our English online shop is in its final stages! Therefore, from about the beginning / middle of March, customers from all EU countries will be able to order easily in our shop.
Of course we are also happy to accept inquiries from other countries. However, due to customs formalities, it may take a little longer to process them.
We are so happy that we have such a great response to our lampions!
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
As a rule I always wear quite comfortable clothes with even more comfortable shoes, because there are always situations where you have to help out.
And besides that I am always on the move in my private life. That is not missing with small children. Spontaneous playing catch with the children in high heels is a bit unhappy. Besides, I’m already quite tall with a height of 180 cm and with high-heeled shoes, finding pants is really a challenge.
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites?
Frankly speaking, I’m a bit of a shopping grouch. I have quite a lot of clothes in my closet, but as it is: Most of the time I always go back to the same comfortable clothes.
If I have the possibility I try to support the local retail trade here in the small town, even if it is maybe a little more expensive than in the online shop.
Moreover, most of the times you always meet some friends and get into nice conversations over and over again.
If I am looking for something special, I am very happy about the medium internet and the possibilities it offers.
Online shops are great and it is impossible to imagine today’s world without them.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
The garden season is coming up and last autumn my beloved rubber boots broke, so I urgently need new ones…..
Boots or Shoes?
I can’t even say I prefer any of them. It depends on the opportunity and what I’m wearing that day. And, of course, also on my mood 🙂
Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook/twitter etc so that readers can find out more about Barlooon Germany.
These are the links from our German social pages. We are in the process of creating English pages for this. These will be finished bit by bit.
You can find our shop under www.barlooon.com
https://www.facebook.com/Barlooon
https://www.xing.com/companies/barlooongermanygmbh
https://www.instagram.com/barlooon.wetterfester.lampion/
http://www.pinterest.de/barlooon/
Many thanks Hanna for chatting to me . Do check out Hanna’s Instagram page, dear readers – the photographs are fabulous as well as the products.
Linda x
All photographs have been published with kind permission of Barlooon Germany
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